Football season is nearly here, but there is one more little bit of offseason drama to discuss prior to the first games of the season tomorrow. According to Jeff Arnold at Forbes, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh labeled the SEC ‘cheaters’ in a new book that will be released in the coming weeks. Harbaugh has never been shy about stirring the pot, and this excerpt has ruffled some feathers down south.
'It's hard to beat the cheaters' in the SEC.
Jim Harbaugh speaks his mind in a new book: https://t.co/T2pSypgQBb pic.twitter.com/6tj7IPDsVz
— 247Sports (@247Sports) August 22, 2019
The line is from John Bacon’s new book “Overtime: Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines at the Crossroads of College Football”. Bacon is a Michigan alum who has written a number of books on the Wolverines over the last two decades, and this is his first book focused on Harbaugh. He took to Twitter to clarify Harbaugh’s comments after they blew up yesterday.
A lot of misquoting from people who have not read OVERTIME. To clarify, Harbaugh said, "Hard to beat the cheaters" as an off-hand remark about recruiting, not playing, and did not name any schools or conferences. https://t.co/Db5nP4EE8z
— John U. Bacon (@Johnubacon) August 22, 2019
Arnold’s review left open some room for interpretation. In reviewing the book, Arnold writes:
“Harbaugh, who has made plenty of enemies south of the Mason-Dixon line since taking over at Michigan, has poked the cages of SEC coaches repeatedly and in the book, speaks to the disparity in spending by simply telling Bacon, ‘(It’s) hard to beat the cheaters.’”
This isn’t the first time that Harbaugh has accused the SEC of having unfair advantages. A few years ago, there were months of debates centered around whether satellite camps should be allowed by the NCAA. Harbaugh vehemently protested the satellite camps, spurring new legislation on the matter.
He has also taken pains to highlight some of the economic disparities between SEC schools and their Big Ten counterparts, but 247 Sports pointed out that Michigan had the sixth-highest recruiting budget of any program in the country.
Additionally, the Wolverines have been known for their summer trips abroad under Harbaugh. In 2017, he took the team to Rome, and they went to Paris in 2018. The team traveled to South Africa this offseason.
H/T 247 Sports and Forbes
